Restaurant woos new culinary director with high-end background

BONITA SPRINGS — DeRomo’s Gourmet Market & Restaurant named hospitality industry veteran LJ Cousson as director of culinary.

Cousson, with nearly two decades as executive sous chef for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in the Washington, D.C., area, in addition to other career stops, will oversee customer service and product supply, according to a statement. Cousson will also enhance market and restaurant food items at DeRomo’s and create an in-season menu that features a wider variety of famous Italian seafood dishes, the release adds.

“Chef has a history of creating and building on menus that encompass true passions for food from across the globe,” DeRomo’s Gourmet Market & Restaurant Director of Operations Stephen Schmitt says in the release. “This indicates that he will not lose sight of what makes DeRomo’s such a popular destination for authentic Italian cuisine. Instead, he’ll add new, exciting flavors to the meals that make Italian cuisine a favorite for so many people, particularly our resident and snowbird customers.”

In total, Cousson has 38 years of culinary experience, specifically in fine dining. In addition to the Four Seasons, he was executive chef role at The Country Club at Woodmore in Maryland and was executive chef at NINETEEN, at the TPC at Sawgrass on Ponte Vedra Beach, outside Jacksonville.